


Two Large Double Cheeses with Black Olives

by KyloWithAZukoArc



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Ben Solo Doesn't Turn to the Dark Side, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Crack, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Devoted Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family Reunions, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Forehead Kisses, Happy Ending, Redeemed Ben Solo, Silly, Soft Ben Solo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:35:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25600702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KyloWithAZukoArc/pseuds/KyloWithAZukoArc
Summary: Silly modern AU where Rey is a pizza delivery driver and Ben Solo lives alone and orders pizza all the time and is a total dork about it and they get a happy ending goddammit.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, rey (star wars) - Relationship
Comments: 16
Kudos: 91





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfic is completed and is going to be posted in its entirely chapter by chapter in one go.

Rey always strapped in the pizza on her passenger’s side. She wasn’t sure why she always went the extra measure of security for this stupid job, but something had always called her to. 

Address 2514 Finalizer Way, Unit 13. It was a 15 minute drive out, 12 if she took the backways. Hopefully the last stop for the night. It was already 2am. So off she went. 

She’d never really been one to listen to music, driving around in their red Chevy Speeder, but today she tried it out. She played the new Taylor Swift album, Folklore. It gave her too many feelings. 

She was on the fourth song “Exile” by the time she pulled up to the apartment complex. She’d always turn off the car in between stops, hoping to save what gas she could. Carrying the warm bag of cheese and sauce and bread, she ascended the stairways to knock on Unit 13. 

A giant of a man answered the door. Long messy hair dressed in a long sleeve black T-shirt and pants. Pretty plain get up. But she couldn’t help but notice the red LEDs that lit the room in the back. Must be a gamer. 

“Hi, two large double cheeses with black olives?”

“Yeah thanks, that’s me.” 

“Here you go.”

She handed off the pizza off to the giant, as he called back into the room, “Pizza’s here!” No one answered. 

“Can you sign?”

“Yeah.”

She handed him the receipt and a clipboard - one she provided herself because her job was too dumb to supply one even though that would seem an obvious and cheap tool to give - and he signed. 

And gave a $20 tip. 

“Uh- sorry,” she said, I think you gave me the wrong bill?”

“No no. It’s the right one.”

“Oh. Oh okay, thanks!”

“Yeah thanks for the pizza.”

She nodded and returned to her Speeder, finally off shift. Thank god for that tip, that would be filling her gas tank. 

The next Friday night, another call came in about the same time. Rose, her coworker on the phones, was about to give it to another driver, when Rey usurped it.

“You said 2514 Finalizer? That’s the big tipper guy!! Give it to me,” she pressed. 

“Okay, but don’t tell anyone I did. I can’t keep playing favorites with you,” Rose joked. 

“You know I’m broke!”

“We’re all broke, Rey.”

They chuckled in despair, and Rey grabbed the precious cargo. 

When she arrived, this time she put some lip gloss on and tried to fix her hair, just a tad. Maybe he would give her $25 if she brought the charm. You know, that classic charm that only pizza delivery girls could bring. 

She knocked on his door again; this time he was also... less scruffy. No pajama bottoms for one. And did he do his hair?

“Hi, two large double cheeses with black olives?”

“Yep, hi again.”

“Hey. Having a party?”

The guy visually froze for a second. “Yeah, totally. I mean no. It’s for the roommates. I mean I live alone. Er.”

He scrambled for his words and she had to laugh for a second. He was kinda cute, if a bit of a dweeb.

“I’m Rey. Nice to meet you.” 

“Ben. Nice to meet you too.”

And they shook hands. She hoped she didn’t have any pizza grease on hers; she hadn’t prepared for this possibility. 

“Do you game or something?”

“Uhhh yeah, haha. I built my PC myself.”

“Oh that is really cool. I love building things.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. I’m going to school for engineering.”

“That’s awesome!”

“Thanks. It’s expensive.”

“I bet.”

“Yeah, haha.”

And they stood there for a minute before she remembered. 

“OH, I need you to sign.”

“Oh, right.”

After he placed his delivery on a stand next to him, he gave his signature. And another twenty. 

“Uhm, thank you, really. You’re being really nice.”

“It’s cool like. This economy sucks.”

“Uh, yeah, absolutely.”

They stared on for a minute. 

“Well!” she said, “Enjoy!”

“Yeah you too. I mean don’t. Don’t enjoy it. Yeah.”

She laughed at him and walked down to her car. 

When she looked again at the receipt she noted something else he’d included on the customer copy that he didn’t take-

“Ben. This is my number... call me sometime.”

And she beamed, and drove off into the midnight air. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two dorks are incredible dorks and do not know how to flirt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahaha.

She messaged him in the late afternoon. She’d figured he’d be awake by 2pm, unsure how long he stayed up on Friday nights. After deliberating for a while between a vanilla “hey this is Rey” intro and an attempt to appear witty with a stupid joke, she decided to go with casual conversation:

“So what do you play?”

And immediately felt incredibly stupid. 

“This is Rey by the way. 

"The pizza girl. From last night.”

Double texting. Over clarifying. Stupid. Should have just gone vanilla. 

A couple minutes later she got a reply:

“Hey Rey :)

"Apex Legends mostly right now... a lot of FPS in general.”

Another buzz:

“You?”

Okay he double texted too. She was in the clear.

“Actually not much anymore. I used to. But I wish I could get the new Animal Crossing...”

“Have a switch?”

“I wish :(“

“Uh. I do.”

Buzz buzz. 

“If you would want to use it sometime.

“Borrow it, something.”

She smiled. Already he was inviting her over? And volunteering his console? How bold. 

“How do you know I won’t steal it?”

Double text:

“I’ve been known to be a scavenger.”

“Well then I guess you’ll just have to come over.”

Buzz buzz. 

“Uh. I’m assuming you’re unattached.”

She buzzed back.

“You could say that.”

Rey hadn’t had a boyfriend in two years, if you could count a stint of three weeks where she watched a guy play Call of Duty a relationship. Then it was four. 

It was ten minutes before he replied:

“That was probably a joke but I really don’t want to misunderstand. Do you mean you’re separated or something?”

She slapped her hand to her face, why was she so bad at this?

“I’m unattached.”

“Coolllll okay. 

"Well maybe we’ll have to get you AC.”

She quizzically looked up to the wall; it was so easy for him to just do that?

“Yeah I’m kinda saving up I guess,” she replied. 

She saw the dot dot dot. Then it disappeared. Then dot dot dot. 

“You busy later?”

“To get AC? Lol”

“Haha in general.”

“I have another shift tonight. Closing :(“

“Bummer. When do you go in?”

“At 6pm.”

“Well maybe I’ll be ordering pizza for dinner :)"

She deliberated. Flirt back or tease?

“How much pizza can one man eat?” she teased. 

“Hey I have roommates. 

"Okay I don’t.”

And she laughed out loud. When was the last time she had laughed out loud from a text conversation?

“Two large double cheese with black olives?”

“Maybe just one, haha.”

And they joked, and they talked, and they flirted, until it was time for her to go in. She had actually meant to spend the last hours catching up on homework, but whatever you know. She could tomorrow. Maybe.

And the call came in. 

Rose rang her, “Okay girl you better get that big tip if you know what I mean.”

“Please never say that again.”

“But it’s so classic.”

Rey readied the one large cheese with black olives, extra careful to strap it in good and tight, and she took off. Folklore still playing. It was a good album. 

She primped again before walking up, she actually wore mascara this time. Scandalous. 

In opening the door, he let out a wide grin. 

“I’m so sick of pizza.”

And she laughed hard. 

“You know you can see me not under these pretenses?”

“Is that an invitation?”

“I thought we made that pretty clear earlier today.”

He smirked. “What are you doing tomorrow?”

She was so fucking free like you don’t even know. 

“Homework,” she replied. 

“Dinner?”

“No pizza.”

“No pizza.”

And it was on. There was a pasta place a step up from Olive Garden nearby. She would have taken Olive Garden too though. Rey was that kind of girl. 

But then the awkward matter came of the tip. 

Should he keep tipping her $20? A precedent had been set, but every time? Seemed a bit much. 

She humbly refused and suggested instead: “How about you just buy me dinner?”

“Deal.”

And he signed and still gave her $5. She genuinely appreciated it. 

“See you tomorrow, Ben.”

“Tomorrow.”

And she needed to get the hell out of there because she was already late to her next delivery. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Small smut but not really. Rey and Ben are just cute and awkward.

“Do you play DND?”

They sat at a little table for two at the pasta place. “Maz’s. 6pm Sunday," that had been their arrangement. She swirled her fettuccine alfredo. Ben had asked the question. 

“Uh no, but I have been hearing a lot about it. I’m surrounded by nerds in my degree.”

“So derogatory. What if I told you I was a nerd?”

“Gasp. I never would have guessed.”

He ate a bread stick with a smile curling at his lips. 

“I have a friend who is trying to get a campaign going. Or at least a one shot.”

“I wouldn’t know the first thing.”

“That’s okay. If you wanted I could teach you.”

“Hm, maybe. Seems like a lot.”

“Yeah it kinda is. But it’s fun!”

She was happy to feel so included. 

“So I have to ask,” she sidelined the conversation, “You seem, uh.” Rey tried to choose her words carefully. “You seem very cool with spending money.”

“What do I do?” he clarified. 

“Yeah, what do you do? I mean. You already know me...”

“I’m a software engineer.”

“Oh woah.”

“It’s fine.”

He didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable. So he didn’t expound without her prodding. 

“Can I ask where?”

He winced. 

“First Order Solutions.”

“Oh. Weren’t they... in the news recently?”

He bit his cheek. “Maybe a little bit.” He snapped at another stick of bread. “I should have led with the fact that I’m looking for another job.”

“Ah, I see."

“But yeah, my boss is a prick to say the least.”

She chuckled. 

And they went on, about hobbies, her schooling, even some shows and movies; he was a geek for his entertainment; she, not so much, but she had an open mind. 

“I really love going to the gym, though,” she mentioned. 

“Oh great! I’ve been looking for a gym buddy.” And he cut himself off there. Was he coming off too strong? Was gym buddy too much of a commitment to throw out there on the first date? Was he over thinking it?

Granted, he had been a lonely bachelor for the past seven years. With some flings in between, but nothing that had stuck. He had a hard time recalling what was normal to say on a first date. He tried to contextualize his offerings:

“I mean I spend a lot of time at the computer and need to exercise.”

WAIT THAT MADE HIM SOUND EVEN WORSE, WHY DID HE EVER SPEAK. 

“It’s always easier to have accountability. But it’s hard to meet people.”

BEN SOLO, STOP TALKING. 

“I get that.”

And her agreement sedated his fears. She continued: “Do you have a membership anywhere?”

His eyes shined. 

-

So they were making out now. That didn’t take long.

After dinner they had tossed around the idea of seeing a movie after, when some joke was made about getting Animal Crossing and going back to his place. 

“I mean, I know where you live,” she joked. 

“That sounds like a threat.”

“Maybe it is.”

They didn’t get Animal Crossing. 

He broke the kiss as they lied strewn across his couch. He had to ask,

“Are you cool with this?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Yeah... alright. I didn’t know how far you wanted to go.”

“Right.”

Red blushed her cheeks something fierce then. There was always so much to consider with these kinds of things. And usually it wasn’t a sexy conversation to have in the middle of heat. 

“I don’t go all the way on the first date,” she laid out.

“Is this okay?”

And he kissed her collarbone. 

“Is this okay?”

And he lifted her shirt off her mid drift to kiss her stomach. 

“Is this okay?”

And he kissed her wrists. 

Her eyes gleamed. 

They wound up topless by the end of it. She motioned that that was as far as she wanted to go that evening. But wasn’t opposed to more. Later. He squeezed her hand. 

It was around 9 o’clock now. Still early in the night. But they weren’t putting their shirts back on yet. The screen flickered with “Are you still watching?”

“Do you have work tomorrow?” she inquired. 

“Yeah. The ole nine to five.”

“Gotcha. Feel free to kick me out whenever.”

“Well I’m kind of a night owl, so.”

“I’d guessed as much.”

He smiled. “Are you like full time school, part time work?”

“Yeah...,” she confessed, “It’s kind of a lot.” 

“No joke. You probably work more hours than I do.”

A slight burn of envy and anger doused through her veins at that comment, but he probably had had to do the same things she’d was going through, and he came out with a cushiony job, so maybe there was hope for her too. 

“Probably, ha,” was all she said. 

A part of him lurched. “Did I take up your whole Sunday? Did you have stuff to do?”

“It’s okay, I got it all done!” Mostly. They had texted a bunch earlier too, which had been in a word, distracting. 

“Well, that’s good to hear.” He kissed her forehead. And then kept kissing her. 

It was 11pm when she started nodding off and needed to get home. She, unlike him, was not a night owl, and would be needing to wake up early to finish off some last bit of assignment before class at 10am. 

“I had fun,” she told him, “a lot of fun actually.”

“Well great... Could I see you again sometime?”

“Yes. Definitely.” He gave her a squeeze and walked her to her car.

With one last little smooch they said good night, but he told her to text him when she got home safe. She had never had anyone say that to her before. It was silly but warmed her to her core. 

“Home :),” she texted back upon arrival.

“Good. I was terrified you’d break down on the highway.”

“Hey don’t make fun of my ride!”

“I’m kidding. You really have to pay for your own gas at your job? That’s so shitty.”

“THANK YOU, ISN’T IT?”

“Terrible.”

They shot back a couple more notes, but now it was getting close to midnight and she would super regret it in the morning. 

“Have a good night, Rey. I had a great time.”

“You too, Ben :) Sleep well. Whenever you get around to it.”

“Haha. Night.”

“Night <3”

Okay. No, there were definitely no regrets. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure why I am writing this.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> BEN AND REY AND FINN AND POE AND ROSE PLAY DND

A couple weeks passed before he officially asked her to be his girlfriend. By the time it happened it felt more like a formality than anything. She was practically living at his place already. Granted, it was definitely much nicer than her podunk of an apartment with a shower that never got hot enough to actually decompress in and a toilet that she constantly had to fix. Rey was good at fixing things, but that didn’t mean she liked to do it. Anyway. His place was certainly more comfortable - and cleaner - but she just wanted to be more around him than anything else. 

And he was definitely a total dork who played a lot of video games. But she was usually needing to do homework anyway. So it became a typical night for them in that she’d be reading a textbook while he gamed in the background. He actually had picked up Dead by Daylight now, an unusual choice, but his friends Finn and Poe - another couple - had picked it up, so he joined them. 

Tonight they played “Killer mode,” wherein Ben was a monster - an Oni - trying to kill all the others. 

Tonight he left off the headphones at the behest of Rey. Sometimes it was better to hear the entire back and forth with his team rather than his one side with no music or extra effects. It was, in a way, more enjoyable distracting than to not be privy to all the smack talk. 

Poe was playing this macho badass guy David, while Finn was trolling with this character Meg. The trolling was definitely working on Ben. 

“Fuck you, bastard, get back here,” Ben trashed.

“Big scary man out to get little ole me, no thanks.”

They bounced back and forth until Poe and Finn won the match. Finn jostled:

“We win again, Ben. I thought you were supposed to be good at being the big bad.”

“You two are so cute, why don’t you go make out behind a dumpster.”

“Been there, done that,” Poe retorted. 

Rey enjoyed their banter, even if she couldn’t always follow it. Or could concentrate entirely on her work. If things were ever too bad she would just go to his bedroom or study at home, something. But she enjoyed the relaxation. 

“So when do I get to DM you guys?” Poe threw out. “I’m getting antsy.”

“I’m down whenever,” Ben said. “It’s Hux and Chewy who are too busy for us.”

“Fucking Hux,” Finn lamented. 

“Hey girlfriend! Are you there? Can you hear me?” Poe announced obnoxiously. 

“She doesn’t want to talk to you assholes,” Ben joked. 

“Hey assholes,” Rey responded. 

“Heeeeeey girl,” Poe started, “Do you play DND?”

-

“Do you play DND?” Rey asked Rose. 

“What!! Yes!! As much as I possibly can,” Rose responded. 

Rey very much felt like the odd man out now. How had she missed this train that everyone else was apparently hopped on forever ago?

“Okay well. My boyfriend is trying to get a group together. Apparently four players is a really good amount.”

“WHEN and WHERE?!”

-

It was still a couple more weeks before they could get together. Such was the way of adult life. It would have to be a one shot for now. To one, get a feeling of the group, and two, scheduling among five full timers was an eternal nightmare. 

The game was actually set in a sci-fi fantasy. Ben had his character figured out the first night he heard the concept. He was to be Kylo Ren, an evil space wizard with a backstory three pages long. He had also typed it up that night. 

Ben helped Rey figure hers out later when she felt like it. She didn’t have much of an idea to bring to the table, though the backstory of a rogue attracted her. She ended up being a scavenger type with dead parents. Classic. She didn’t want to be evil though, if she could somehow be good with a backstory like that, she’d be about it.

“What about a name?” he asked. 

“Uhm...,” she floundered. 

“We can use a generator.”

So he fired up a name gen and ran through a couple options. She turned down most of them. 

“Palpatine?”

“Palpatine? That doesn’t sound right.”

“How about Skywalker?”

“Ooooo,” she said, “That sounds cool.”

It made absolutely no sense for her character but she dug it nonetheless. 

“Alright, Skywalker it is.”

So finally the night came; he’d drafted up their character sheets, and she was overwhelmed with all the apparent math that was involved. Not to mention - 

“I’m not really good at roleplay...”

“I beg to differ,” he winked at her. 

“Har har,” she said, “You know what I mean.”

“It’ll be fun, I promise!”

Rey finally got to meet the dipshits Ben played with on an almost everyday basis. They were Finn and Poe, owners of an adorable coffeeshop downtown as well as an orange tabby cat named Beebee. 

“You didn’t tell me you had a caaaat,” Rey squealed and played with the little baby. 

“Oh Beebee owns us, you see,” Poe joked, “He’ll be all over the table the whole night. We’ve given up trying to restrain him.”

And she curled into her knees with the little kitty. 

Rose was late. Then again, she was always late. It was a wonder she still had a job. 

“I’m super sorry!” she apologized. Her character sheet was also only halfway filled in. She’d need to roll for the rest. 

This would have irked Poe, but at this point he was the master of improv and would roll with the punches. 

They sat down to play. Poe set the scene:

A band of smugglers had stolen valuable parts to the death machine Kylo Ren’s family had created. Kylo was venturing out with his party to retrieve them, of which included a trooper Fighter who secretly wanted to betray him (Finn), Page their Ranger Pilot (Rose), and Skywalker, a scavenger he had picked up along the way because he liked her so much and she was conflicted about joining him but she found him hot so she did anyway. 

Poe announced upon their arrival to the smuggler’s cove: “Roll for initiative!”

To Rose’s greatest dismay, somehow her character rolled so terribly at every turn that Page literally died in a one-shot. 

“Are you JOKING ME?! I DIED!?”

Poe honestly felt bad. “I’m so sorry. Do. Do you want to be a ghost?”

“No, this edition just sucks!”

Rose stomped off into the kitchen to get a drink. 

“Do you want to keep playing...?" Poe called out sadly, "You could reroll a character real quick...”

“Nahh...,” Rose lamented, “I’ll just watch and make jokes at your expense.” 

“Do you want to help me play? I don’t know what I’m doing,” Rey offered.

“Ohh! Sure!!”

And somehow Rose’s influence kicked Rey’s character into some kind of midmaxed extravaganza. 

Ben was literally furious when she almost took down the big bad herself, 

“How did you do that?!”

Rey just shrugged, “Natural talent, I guess,” and they all laughed. 

The night ended with Poe basically role-playing to himself with the villain and some bad side character who was just so devilishly handsome that he got all the ladies to sleep with him. Finn rolled his eyes,

“Poe we get it, you love yourself.”

“Shh wait this is the best part.” And Poe rolled against himself. “The big bad actually seduces the bard through the power of the dark side.”

“We get it. You fucked yourself.”

And the table laughed among themselves. 

All in all, it wasn’t a bad night. Rey wouldn’t mind doing it again sometime, although Ben was still a bit miffed that they had only scratched the surface of his character. 

“He isn’t just an emo brat, he’s got depth!" Ben ranted, "There was so much that happened to him! But y’all just called him a bitch.”

“Because he was being a bitch,” Rey commended. “But maybe we’ll have an extended play where we find out more.”

Ben sighed. Fat chance of that happening. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao Fucking Hux.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'll be honest, things get a touch more serious. But you can't have Ben Solo without some anger issues, am I right?

And so Ben and Rey moved in together. After a couple months of her staying over almost every night, he suggested it. She offered:

“I can help with rent.”

“You’re fine. I got this place when it was just going to be me.”

“How about utilities?”

“Mm. Okay, utilities. Some groceries. But please try to save your money if you can.”

Rey was grateful to have him. Life had not been easy for her. While she had managed to score some scholarships, she had literally no safety net of family to catch her. Getting to where she had in life had nearly killed her. She was determined to rise up, even if it was just by her own strength, but having someone to just be with and even help shoulder living expenses went so incredibly far. 

But they still had their spats. 

Kylo was a neat freak. Even with “bachelor” status, he still was anxious about mess. He cleaned constantly - bathrooms weekly, laundry every day, sheets every few days. Never left the dishes in the sink overnight. 

And Rey seemed to never complete one chore before starting another one. She’d leave the cabinets open; she’d have her clothes strewn on the bathroom floor for hours after a shower; she one time left an apple with a single bite out of it on the counter before going to work. That had resulted in a picture texted with some sarcastic remark attached.

Rey relayed this all to Rose. By this point, Rey wasn’t working at the pizza place anymore; the manager had proved to be a less than kind person to his staff. Cutting hours when he wasn’t happy with a worker personally, sometimes accused of stealing tips, though they could never prove it. That kind of thing. 

She was actually hired by Poe and Finn to be a barista at their shop a couple weeks ago, and she enjoyed every minute of it. 

But anyway, she was on the phone with Rose:

“I don’t know,” Rey said. “I love Ben, I really do. But he says things that concern me. A lot.”

“Look,” Rose breathed seriously, “When you told me that you told him about your past ... and that he said something about you being nothing but not to him. Like I could imagine how he meant that to be sweet, but it came across as a huge red flag.”

“Yeah...” Rey’s heart pounded. She knew Ben hadn’t had the greatest relationship with his parents. Okay, he was basically estranged from them. They had fought his entire childhood, and after so many times of trying to reconcile their differences, he just cut them off. Surely he would pick up some bad habits from all that. Like when he always had to be better at her at things. And how he sometimes looked down on her for not having a lot of “adult” status stuff like he did. Or that she always had to be the one to deescalate their fights first, because he could really stick in his heels and go all night if he was feeling it. He definitely got that last one from his parents. 

“Honestly? He needs therapy,” Rose said, “It isn’t your place to try to stay and fix it.”

“God, I would love some too,” Rey admitted. She had her own share of problems. Like never asking for help for fear of becoming a burden. And sometimes hoarding things because she never knew when the next good time would come (this especially drove Ben crazy as he was a minimalist). Not to mention she was pretty sure she had some kind of ADD/ADHD thing going on as well. “But it’s so expensive.”

“Maybe you can go together?”

“Couples therapy? That seems so serious.”

“Or maybe just say like. You want to get therapy. And you would feel more comfortable if he got it too.”

“While that isn’t so far from the truth, I wish I could just be more up front about it. That I love him, but his behavior bothers me a lot the longer I know him. But he’d shut down.”

“Stupid,” Rose rolled her eyes. “Why is it always like that?”

Rey deliberated. It couldn’t hurt to ask. 

-

It hurt to ask. 

“I don’t need therapy,” Ben ground his teeth. 

They had just come back from the gym. He had actually bulked up a ton since they started going together; he drank whey protein shakes and started waking up early just to go for runs. She went with him when she could. She had hoped some pent up energy would have been released from their gym excursion tonight. But not so much. 

“I’m just scared, okay,” Rey said to him, completely honest. She’d heard about way too many red flags on the internet about anger issues and financial entanglement. In her worst dreams, she could see him turning into a dark version of himself and her falling into it. He hadn’t yet though.

His hair was slick with sweat as he cupped his face. He knew he had issues. But everybody had issues. Poe had issues. Finn had problems. Poe and Finn had issues together. Rey had issues. 

“Why don’t you go?” Ben reversed at her. 

“I’d love to actually,” she confirmed. “It’s just too much money. But your job has benefits, doesn’t it? You could try it just to try it.”

He sighed out his nose. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be better than his parents. He just wanted to be better on his own terms. Rey here though was saying it wasn’t cutting it. 

“I’ll look into it,” he said, and that was all he said about it for the night. 

-

Rey had to bother him a few more times, but eventually, he really did look into it. 

It was difficult though. The healthcare system wasn’t exactly a walk in the park, even with benefits. It took months to find someone worthwhile and even then it wasn’t perfect. 

Still. He was working on it. 

-

And she was working on it.

But she still had her abandonment issues. Sometimes if he was gone for too long she would get an instinctual panic and text him, asking where he was.

“I’m just in traffic, darling,” he would say, trying to be sweet and encouraging, but after so many times, he did feel swallowed by it. Claustrophobic. 

She was worried she wasn’t good enough and he would leave her someday because she wasn’t good enough and he would just hold her and hold her until she had some minutia of belief he would never leave her. 

-

But then Rey was graduating. 

After years of work and pain and toil and financial difficulties and debt for years to come, she was graduating. Even more amazing, like another miracle, she had lined up a spot to work at a company she’d applied for. The job wasn’t in her career field, but when Ben had noticed that they were hiring for a receptionist, he’d called her immediately to tell her about it. 

“Just get your foot in the door,” he encouraged her, “Meet the people there. Keep your ears open and be the first to know when something you actually want pops up. Believe me, position is everything.”

She had been so nervous but she took his words to heart, and he helped her write up her resume and cover letter. Finn and Poe would be sure to leave glowing remarks of her for her references. 

And she got in. Unbelievably, after a terrifying (to her) interview, she got in. 

She was so excited. She couldn’t wait for her next chapter in life. And neither could Ben. 

Ben said he had something special for her. And when she came to him and Finn and Poe and Rose from walking across the stage in her graduation robes, the first thing he did was... pull out a copy of Animal Crossing. 

She laughed so hard at it then, completely caught off guard. “Are you serious? I can’t believe you remembered this. It’s so old now.”

“It was more the spirit of it.”

“No, no, it’s funny,” she continued to laugh, albeit secretly a little disappointed at what she had thought he meant by “something special.”

And then he got down on one knee. 

Finn and Poe and Rose lost their goddamn shit.

-

She finally met his parents. It would have probably been smarter before she said yes to have done this, but honestly she was surprised it happened at all. 

Once word got through the grapevine that Ben Solo was engaged, his mom sought him out to the point where even if he had secluded himself away on some island, she would have found him. Even Uncle Luke came out of the wood works for it. Rey had never heard the full story, but knew enough that him appearing was a giant deal. 

In a way, Ben regretted the reunion. It was a lot. 

In a way, he couldn’t be happier. 

-

It was a small wedding. Only the closest friends and family were invited (which wasn’t much). Rey had wanted it that way. Ben would have showered her to the ends of the earth in an all out ceremony, but he was happy with this too. 

They got married on the beach, and they ate pizza. 

There was other catering too, but when it came time to “cut the cake,” they instead fed each other large double cheese slices with black olives. 

Leia hated it.

Poe and Finn thought it was the funniest shit ever. 

And so it was that Ben Solo and Rey Solo had a happily ever after.

The fucking end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER, THE END
> 
> Thank you for reading<3
> 
> Follow me on tumblr @KyloWithAZukoArc  
> More to come!


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